Harry Potter and the FireStone
by gmmccann
Summary: Harry, Ron, and Hermione are beginning their quest to find all the horcruxes so they can defeat Voldemort. But along the way the Golden Trio meet up with Ash, Misty and Brock and they team up to defeat Team Rocket.
1. Chapters 1 through 3

Chapter 1

"Avada Kadavera!" screamed Lord Voldemort as a bolt of green light shot from the end of wand toward the running trio of teenage crusaders.

"Stupify." Ron turns and casts a stream of red light back at the Dark Lord. Voldemort diverts the attack and continues to gain on the trio. Ron looks over at Hermione and they share a look. They both know that there are far too many Death Eaters around them to continue the fight.

"We have to get out of here!" Hermione shouted. Harry glanced back, nodding in agreement. The trio turned down a hall in Malfoy Manor that leads them to the back door. Harry looks out a window and sees the black clouds of dozen of Death Eaters coming towards them.

"We need to get back to Grimmauld Place. Grab my arm." Hermione reached out her arm for Ron and Harry to grab.

"No! Death Eaters have control of the Ministry. If we Apparate they will know exactly where we go." Harry pulls out a small half red half white orb. He pressed the button in the middle of it and it expands to a large size. With a flash of light Harry's Abra appears next to them. "We need to go to Grimmauld Place," Harry says to Abra.

Abra gives a slight nod and the next thing you know the three of them open their eyes and they are outside on a street. They look around. It appears that they haven't been followed. A general sigh of relief is shared among the three of them. Abra returned to his Pokéball.

The three of them look toward the row of houses and stare at the place where number 11 Grimmauld Place meets number 13. The row of houses begins to shake and part from this spot as if to let number 12 Grimmauld Place, the house Harry had inherited from his godfather Sirius Black, slips into place. The muggles in the conjoining flats seemed unaware that their house was changing location with them in it. All of them too preoccupied with cleaning up after supper or watching their son and daughters play with their Growlites and Eevees. The almost spooky unmaintained façade of number 12 Grimmauld place was before them and they walked inside, reaching safety. For the moment.

Chapter 2

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stand on the welcome mat staring down the hallway into the usually abandoned house. Harry had not been here since Sirius had died. This house has never been what you may call "homey" but it seemed even less so now. Harry, exhausted from the battle needed a place to rest.

"Well we can't stand here forever." Harry takes a step forward but is stopped by a loud booming voice.

"Severus Snape!" Mad-Eye's loud voice bellows through the empty hall. Harry, Ron and Hermione feel their tongues roll up in their mouths. When they have control of tongues Ron touches his and tries to stretch it out. "What the bloody hell was that?" Ron exclaimed.

"Tongue tied ji-." Before Hermione could continue her sentence she was stunned. A rather large dust cloud had started to form at the end of the hall. A shape of what appeared to be a man began to form in the dust. The outline of the man became suddenly familiar to Harry. A dark ghostly version of Albus Dumbledore flew toward them. "Yoooooou."

"What, but I didn't kill you," Harry shouted out of terror and confusion. On the word kill the Dumbledore before them vanished. The room was quiet. Ron did his best to console a broken down Hermione. Harry took a couple more steps down the quiet hallway. It appeared as if that was the last enchantment.

"Lumos maxima."

Harry lifts his wand to light the stairway in front of him. For a split second he can see the tail end of a retreating Gastly fleeing from the light. "Wonderful," Harry said softly to himself. "Ghost Pokémon are ridiculously hard to remove; but if we helped remove a boggart from the upstairs cabinet last year we can probably remove a couple of Gastlys."

Harry, Ron and Hermione walk up the stairs into the drawing room. Exhausted they set up their sleeping bags and Ron and Harry get comfortable. Hermione sits in a chair gently brushing her sleeping Vulpix. She knows that they must soon get on the road if they ever have a hope of finding and destroying all the horcruxes.

Chapter 3

Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend the next couple weeks at Grimmauld Place. They needed to get started on their quest but none of them really knew where to start. So they spent a couple weeks resting and cleaning up the house as best they could. Kreacher was rarely seen and when he was seen, didn't seem eager to help them clean. Harry wasn't complaining.

Harry left the drawing room and walked down the stairs to the kitchen where Hermione was making a modest lunch with the food they had left. "How are things going upstairs?"

"It's better. Not great but livable." Harry takes a seat at the long table in the middle of the kitchen. "Ron is still upstairs dealing with the Gastlies."

Hermione lets out a small chuckle as the mental image of Ron dealing with the Gastly infestation upstairs pops into her mind. "Why is he up there doing that? You're the one that has the psychic Pokémon."

"He wanted to do it," said Harry as he gave a sigh of comic amusement at his best friend.

There is a huge thud that appears to be coming from upstairs. Harry and Hermione laugh as they imagine Ron battling the Gastlies.

Footsteps are heard coming down the stairs. Ron is obviously running down the stairs. Hermione moves from the counter where she was making sandwiches with the stale bread they had left and walks toward the hallway to meet Ron.

"What was that noise?" Ron peers in the doorway of the kitchen out of breath.

"We thought that was you with the Gastlies." Harry was perplexed.

"No I finished with them ages ago. Magneton was awesome up there you should have seen it. I even managed to catch one!" Ron was so proud of his accomplishment that he had forgotten the reason he ran through the house in the first place.

"Well then what was that noise?" As soon as Hermione finished her sentence another loud noise caused the three of them to cover their ears. This one sounded more like an explosion than a thud. Expecting the worst Harry runs to the window and looks out at the road in front of number 12 Grimmwauld Place. He saw a young man – no older than 13 – battling a Koffing with a Pikachu. His opponents were wearing white uniforms with a big red "R" on the chest of each of them. A Meowth is next to them, standing on two legs.

"Is that Meowth talking?" Hermione asked quizzically. Neither one of them answered. Even in the magical world, a talking Pokémon was an oddity. One of the opponents, a woman with long red hair, ran forward the sent out her Pokémon; an Ekans. Two more people run towards the young boy, a girl with red hair dressed in short shorts and a summer tank and a young black man, older than the others. The girl throws one of her Pokéballs into the air and releases her Staryu to battle the newly released Ekans.

"They could use some help don't you think?" Ron heads to the door and Harry and Hermione follow him.


	2. Chapters 4 through 6

Chapter 4

"Pikachu, quick attack!" The young man's Pikachu runs so fast toward Weezing that it's almost a blur. It reaches Weezing and it tries to dodge it but the Pikachu is too fast and hits him with critical force. Weezing goes flying through the air.

Weezing's blue haired trainer lets out a shriek as his Pokémon goes flying towards him and lands on top of him.

"James, get up!" His red headed accomplice is visually irritated with her partner. "Ekans, bite." Her Ekans jumps forward and bites one of Staryu's legs before it can escape.

Ron, Harry, and Hermione run up to the scene. The battlers are apparently too busy to notice the trio as they seem to randomly appear from a flat they cannot see.

Staryu shoots a strong stream of blue water out of the point of his head. The stream of water hits the opposing Ekans between the eyes and forces it back several feet. Suddenly the street is covered is a thick purple fog. James' Weezing must have used Smog in battle. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the three young battlers – along with their Pokémon – cough over and over. Harry can feel his throat burn as the smog fills his lungs. The smoke clears and they young boy moves forward.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt." His Pikachu readies himself. Weezing, at this point exhausted, rushes forward in a tackle at the command of his trainer. Pikachu tenses up and a bolt of lightning shoots from his head and hits Weezing. Weezing's momentum is stopped as he is deeply shocked by Pikachu. Weezing is thrown back and hits his master James and his red headed partner; taking her Ekans and Meowth with her.

"TEAM ROCKET IS BLASTING OFF AGAAAAAIIINNN!" They are blasted higher and higher into the air until they disappear with a glimmer of light.

Chapter 5

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron is the first to speak. Harry and Hermione nodded and murmured in agreement.

"Thanks!" The boy with the hat reached his hand down and allowed his Pikachu to run up his arm and take roost on his shoulder. "My name is Ash."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione introduced themselves to Ash, Misty and Brock.

"That was rather impressive." Hermione put her hand in front of her eyes, scanning the sky for any signs that the trainers that were catapulted into the sky were descending. She didn't find anything.

Suddenly Brock ran up to Hermione, his face flushed and red. "Hello my name is Brock and we should run away and live together in a large house with our many kid–"

"Alright, alright Brock, calm down." Misty walks over and grabs Brock's ear and drags him away from Hermione kicking and screaming.

"Are you guys trainers too?" Ash asked, basically ignoring the choreographed chaos happening behind them.

"Yes." Harry answered. The three of them have Pokémon but having to deal with Voldemort and the Death Eaters has made Harry all but forget that the Muggles travel the country battling gym leaders and collecting badges.

"That's great!" Misty was already unpacking and setting up camp in the park across from Grimwald Place. "Do you want to join us for dinner? Brock is an excellent cook."

Ron and Harry look towards Hermione as to let her make the decision. Hermione thinks for a moment for a second and after deciding there wasn't a risk replied that they would love to join them.

Chapter 6

Brock treated the group to some nice grilled fish that they caught in a river just outside of town. Harry, Ron , and Hermione were grateful to have such a good meal after weeks of eating stale bread and lukewarm pumpkin juice.

"This fish is bloody brilliant!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Ronald." Hermione lightly pushes Ron's shoulder.

The night went on and the conversation turns to the battle that took place earlier that day.

"So who were those people you were battling earlier?" Hermione asked as she collected hers and Ron's plate.

"They were members of Team Rocket." Ash said while he stretched his arms out over his head.

"Team Rocket?" Ron, not having never lived in the Muggle world, had not ever heard of Team Rocket.

"You've never heard of Team Rocket?" Misty was shocked. "How could you have never heard of them?"

"Ron is a bit thick." Harry said, effectively changing the subject. "But why were they after you?"

"Because of Pikachu." When Ash said his name, Pikachu woke up and leapt from Ash's lap to Harry's.

"But seriously, what is Team Rocket?" Ron is still confused.

"Team Rocket is an international Pokémon crime syndicate. They steal valuable Pokémon and then sell them on the black market. They are horrible people!" Hermione was disgusted even talking about the operations of Team Rocket.

"Oh, wow!" Ron gasped.

"Yeah," Misty agreed. "a while ago police caught members of Team Rocket trying to smuggle a truckload of Clefairies from Mt. Moon."

"How horrible!" Hermione gasped.

"But I thought they disbanded years ago." Harry said, recalling what little information he remembered from hiding in the hallway listening to the news at the Dursley's.

Brock was quick to answer.

"They were. They disbanded for years after their old leader was arrested. The individual Team Rocket members were scattered across the globe; many of them having to resort to petty crimes to get by. About a year ago, they seemed to resume action. However, after a few months of smaller capers and operations, they grew silent again. Lots of people think that once again they have gone inactive, but we know the truth."

"The truth?" Ron was deeply interested in Brock's story.

"That Team Rocket is planning something big!" Ash stood up on his chair. "That's why I am travelling the world training to become the greatest Pokémon master ever!"


	3. Chapters 7 through 9

Chapter 7

The darkness turns to day as the sun rises and the park fills with sounds of awakening Pokémon. Harry, Ron, and Hermione decided it would be best to spend the night with them rather than risk Ash, Misty, and Brock catching them sneaking back into Grimmauld Place. Hermione came up with a rather clever alibi for the three of them. They are also Pokémon trainers and they were on their way to the local gym and happened to hear the battle. Ash, Misty and Brock didn't seem suspicious and Hermione pulled sleeping bags out of her small purse when they weren't looking.

The loud squawk of a passing Spearow woke up the group. Ron and Ash grumbled and layed back down and tried to reunite with the dreams from which they have been ripped away. But as for Harry, Hermione, Brock, and Misty; they were up.

Hermione stretched and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She grabbed a small hand mirror out of her bag and examined herself. She let out a half gasp half laugh as she tried to calm her morning hair. "My hair is ghastly!"

"I think your hair is beautiful!" said Brock with a love struck look in his eye. "I think everything about you is beautiful!" A shoe flew through the air and hit Brock in the side of his head causing him to fall sideways onto the ground.

"Leave her alone." Misty puts her hair up into her signature ponytail while looking smug and controlling a laugh. Hermione just smiles.

Misty and Brock start to clean up the camp as best they can around Ash and Ron's unconscious bodies. Hermione tells them she is going for a walk. She goes around the perimeter of the camp removing all the protective spells she placed around them that night. When she gets back, Ron is the only one still asleep.

"Ronald!" Ron jumps away at her call.

"You guys said you were going to the London Gym, right?" Ash asked as he packed up the last of his belongings into his backpack.

"Uhh, yeah that's right." Harry had forgotten that Hermione had said that last night.

"Awesome! We can all go together!" Misty had a huge smile as she put the strings of her bag on her shoulders. Seeing no way and no reason to get out of this, Harry gives a smile and the six of them are off to the London City Gym.

Chapter 8

The group spend the next couple hours trying to find the London City Gym. Brock nominated himself as navigator and is now having trouble finding the gym.

"I think it's up here." Brock said, convinced he has now found the way.

"You've said that like twelve times." Ron was getting tired of walking and frankly a bit irritable. "Do you know where you're going?"

"It's just around the corner I promise!" Everyone gave a small sigh as the continued to follow Brock around the nearest corner.

Protruding from the skyline was this magnificent thirty story building. The building was covered in reflective glass windows with a Pokéball dome on the roof of the building. The group was awestruck at the mere size of the gigantic building.

"That must be it." Hermione says looking up at the tall building.

"That's right! And my Anglobadge is right inside waiting on me!" Ash proclaims this truth and starts running toward the door. The rest of the gang simply walk toward the entrance.

By the time they finally got inside Ash had already finished registering for his gym battle. "Yes! I'm up next!" Brock and Misty shouted words of encouragement.

"Is Ash the only member of your party competing?" asked the young blond man that registered Ash.

"No, Harry is competing too!" Misty grabbed Harry's wrist and pulled him closer to the counter where the blond boy was sitting. Harry looked nervously back at Ron and Hermione before putting his name on the list. He wrote down "Harry Dursley." Even though he didn't want to use his real name in fear that someone connected to Voldemort might see it, it pains him to see that word so close to him.

"It's Ash Ketchum first, then Harry Dursley," Again Harry cringed a little. "All of you can go up to the gym level." The blond man showed the six of them down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway were a pair of sliding doors which, when opened, revealed a lift. When all six of them were on the lift, the doors closed and they started to rise upward.

"What type of Pokémon does this gym leader have?" Brock asks. Harry realizes that he too has no idea what kind of Pokémon he is about to go up against. It's been so long since he fought a gym leader. He hasn't been in a Pokémon gym since before he got his letter to Hogwarts. Even then the Dursley's wouldn't let him go nearly as often as they let Dudley, despite the fact that Dudley never won a single badge.

"The man downstairs said that the gym leader focused on ground types," said Ash trying to recall what he heard. "Also I believe his name Alistair."

"Ahh, ground Pokémon; my favorite." Brock crossed him arms and reminisced about the times when he was a gym leader with his rock Pokémon. Suddenly the lift stops and the doors slide open.

Chapter 9

The group step out of the lift into what appears to be a rocky desert. There is a heavy wind blowing dust into the air and its twenty degrees warmer than it was downstairs.

Hermione looks up at the domed ceiling. "We must be at the top." The six of them all walk forward between to large boulders into a cleared area in the middle of the room. They all look around; looking for the leader but no one is there. Then a large wind grew and blew so much sand into the air that all six of them had to cover their face to avoid being blinded. The wind died down and standing before them was a short twenty-something man with short red hair. He was wearing a green tank top with beige cargo shorts that have been stained by the sand around them.

"My name is Alistair Boulstridge. Leader of the London Pokémon Gym." He is standing on a mound of sand on the other side of the room where he is surrounded by a white circle. The wind blows and reveals another white circle near where the six of them are standing. Ash steps forward into the middle of the circle.

"I am Ash Ketchum; your next opponent!" Alistair smiles.

"This will be a regulation "3 on 3" battle. Let's begin!" Alistair threw a Pokéball into the air and a streak of light hit the ground from the ball and out comes a Geodude.

"Go get him Pikachu!" Pikachu runs off Ash's shoulder and into the battle field and takes an aggressive stance. He is ready.

"Geodude, Tackle him!" Geodude moves forward quickly heading straight for Pikachu. Pikachu is unable to dodge in time and gets hit with the full brunt of Geodude's attack.

"Thunderbolt Pikachu!" When Pikachu gets back up he listens to Ash's command and launches a lightning bolt toward Geodude. It hits him full force yet Geodude seems to have taken little damage.

"Silly boy!" Alistair laughs. "Electric type attacks are no good on my rock types!"

"He's right!" Brock shouts at Ash from the viewing area about fifty feet back. "You need to switch out!"

"No! Pikachu can do it!" Ash is more determined than ever.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Pikachu runs at Geodude so fast he starts to become a blur. Then he tackles Geodude and he is thrown back.

Alistair chuckled before commanding Geodude to use Rock Throw. Geodude pulls a rather large rock out of the ground and throws it at Pikachu. It hits him dead on. Geodude picks up another rock and throws it, then another. Pikachu gets hit by rock after rock. When the onslaught is over Pikachu lays on the ground, exhausted and beaten.

"Pikachu, come back!" Pikachu crawls back to the circle and collapses at Ash's feet. Ash reaches down and pets Pikachu. Ash stands back up and picks up his next Pokéball.

"Kingler, GO!" Ash throws his Pokéball into the air and out comes his Kingler.

"That's right Ash!" Misty shouted enthusiastically. "Water Pokémon can defeat rock types!"

"Kingler, use Water Gun!" A strong stream of water shoots out of Kingler's mouth and soaks Alistair's Geodude.

Geodude flew back and layed on the ground, fainted. Alistair took out Geodude's Pokéball and in a flash of light Geodude was gone.

The battle continued with Ash's Kingler easily taking out Alistair's Graveler and Dugtrio; Leaving Ash the victor. Cheers erupted from the group watching. Even Harry, Ron, and Hermione cheered at Ash's victory.

"Congratulations, you have defeated me." Alistair says while he walks across the battle field. "That means that you have earned this." He holds his hand out and sitting in the palm of his hand was a silver circle. The badge appeared to be a mirror. "The Anglobadge."

Ash reaches his hand out and grabs the Anglobadge. "Thanks!"

"You have fought well. Now, my Pokémon need a rest." Alistair turns and looks at Harry. "Then it's your turn."


	4. Chapters 10 through 12

Chapter 10

"There you go," A nurse with bright red hair hands Ash a try from behind a counter. "Good as new!" The tray held a Pokéball along with a well-rested Pikachu.

"Thanks Nurse Joy!" Ash reaches out and takes back the Pokéball holding his Kingler and Pikachu jumps onto his shoulder.

"Thank you Nurse Joy! You always do such wonderful work with Pokémon! We could live the rest of our lives taking care of Pokémon together!" Brock said as he leaned against his elbows on the counter staring at Nurse Joy, making her more than a little uncomfortable.

"Okay, must we do this every time?" Misty grabs Brock's ear and drags him away from the counter towards the rest of the group that were waiting behind them.

"One down, one to go," Ash said when he returned with his newly healed Pokémon. "You ready Harry?"

Harry gave a nervous laugh. Ron and Hermione looked at him with a look of support. This would be Harry's first gym battle. He was nervous but was convinced, at least on the surface, he could prevail. _I mean I've faced worse than a Gym Leader._ Harry thought to himself.

A long tone filled the room and they all looked on the wall where there a screen. The name Harry Dursley came on the screen. Once again Harry cringed at being associated with the people that made his formative years miserable.

"You're up Harry." Hermione sighed.

"You'll do great mate." Ron patted Harry's shoulder as he stood up and walked to the door. The group of them walked back in to the arena. Alistair was standing on his mound on the other side of the room. Harry looked back at Ron and Hermione before he made his way onto the challenger mound.

"Are you ready to face me Harry?" Alistair asks. The confidence of his assumed victory could be felt on the other side of the arena. Harry had no such confidence.

"Uhh, yeah." Harry said.

Alistair chuckles. "This will be a three on three battle, just like with your friend Ash. Is that okay?" Harry nods.

"Okay, let's begin."

Chapter 11

The battle was brutal on Harry but in the end he came out victorious. Harry started with his Abra and was able to confuse the opposing Dugtrio. But Abra was taken down by Graveler's Earthquake attack. Graveler also defeated Harry's Pidgeotto. But Harry's final Pokémon, his Golbat, defeated a weakened Graveler and Alistair's Geodude.

The sound of cheers erupted from his group of friends behind Harry as his Golbat's Wing Attack sent Alistair's Geodude flying across the arena, unconscious.

"Well done, Harry." Alistair said with a smirk on his face. Harry met Alistair in the middle of the arena and grabbed his Anglobadge. A stunned Harry took it.

"You did it, Harry!" A flabbergasted Hermione wrapped her arms Harry's neck when he returned to the group.

"That was rather impressive," said Brock with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a proud smirk on his face.

The group continued to shower both Harry and Ash with congratulations and praise for the next couple minutes.

"I don't know about you lot," Ron was the first to change the subject. "But I could really use a bite to eat." The group agreed and began to leave. Misty turned around, realizing that she forgot her red shoulder bag, and scuttled back to the chairs where they were sitting.

"Hey Hermione, isn't this yours?" Misty bent down and picked up her beaded handbag.

"Yes!" Hermione couldn't believe she had almost forgotten it. "Thanks."

Hermione took a few steps toward Misty to grab the bag when Misty stopped her. "I got it!" She flung the beaded bag over her shoulder and a disproportionally loud clash came from inside the bag. The room grew silent and looks of horror came over Harry, Ron and Hermione's faces.

Ash was the first one to break the silence. "Well that was odd."

"What's in here?" Misty pulls the bag off her shoulder and starts to open it. Hermione runs across the room and grabs it from Misty.

"Oh it's nothing," Hermione manages the most convincing chuckle she can, "Probably just my make-up tin or something." A nervous Hermione made her way to the elevator and pushed the button to summon the lift.

There was a rather awkward silence as the six of them waited for the lift. After a moment, there was a bing and the doors slid open. The six of them shuffled onto the lift and the doors closed. The lift started to descend.

Suddenly the silence of the lift was slowly interrupted by the sounds of a crowd. The lower they got, the louder and louder the chaos got. The group exchanged a mixture of inquisitive and concerned expressions; none of them sure what they would soon stumble into. The noise was almost unbearable as the lift came to a stop on the bottom floor and the doors slid open.

Chapter 12

The crowd on the other side of the door was a wild mess. People were running around and Pokémon were launching attacks in all sorts of directions. Hermione let out a horrified scream as a Farfetch'd that was flying through the air got captured in a net and fell to the ground.

Ash and Harry led the group towards the center of the room where there was a large clearing. In the center of the empty space stood two menacing figures dressed in black jumpsuits with red "R"'s on their chests. The man had medium length teal hair while the woman had long blond hair split into two ponytails in the back. They stood and laughed over a large pile of sacks and nets filled with Pokémon and Pokéballs.

"Who are you?" Ash yelled towards the strangers.

The two dark strangers stop their cackling and turn to face the group. The boy is the first to speak.

"Prepare for trouble, you got that right!"

"And make it double." Says the blonde.

"Cause we're here for a fight."

"To infect the world with devastation,"

"To fight all peoples in every nation!"

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love."

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

They both take a step forward with their hands on their waist. "Cassidy,"

"And Butch of course."

Cassidy points toward Ash. "We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and night!"

Butch matches her stance, but pointing at Harry. "Surrender to us now or you'll surely lose the fight, fight, fight!"

"Team Rocket! I should have guessed!" exclaimed Misty.

"Of course it's us!" laughed Butch.

"Now if you don't mind we will be leaving now with all your precious Pokémon." Cassidy lifted a bag over her shoulder and turned to leave.

"Stop right there!" Ash

"You can't leave with all those Pokémon!" Harry and Hermione turned around and were surprised at Ron's outburst. Hermione looked over at Harry with a look that said 'He's right you know.'

"Well, we can and we are!" said Cassidy as she lifts a bag of stolen Pokéballs over her shoulder.

The sound of police sirens approaching caught Butch and Cassidy's attention. Butch reaches into his pocket and pulls out a Pokéball.

"Now I'd love to stay and banter but we've got to make our escape now." Butch laughs as he throws out his Raticate. Ash runs forward and picks up a Pokéball in his hand. But before Ash could join the fight Butch shouts, "Go Raticate!"

Butch's Raticate starts to run toward the large crowd of people that were surrounding them. Suddenly there were scared people running everywhere, trying to avoid the perceived attack on them.

"What's going on!" Misty shouts.

"I can't see them anymore!" Hermione gasps.

Suddenly people stop running and the six of them are able to see once more but there is nothing to see. "Butch and Cassidy are gone!" Ash yells and everyone looks over to where they were supposed to be. Butch, Cassidy and all the stolen Pokémon were nowhere to be found.

After about an hour and a half of talking to one of several blue haired Officer Jennys on the scene, Ron, Harry, Brock, Misty, Hermione and Ash all sat in the park where they had met.

"I can't believe they got away with all those Pokémon." Ash was still in shock and angry. "I should have been a better help, but I just stood there."

"This isn't your fault Ash," spoke Hermione. "These were evil and smart people."

"Butch and Cassidy seem more dangerous than the two we saw you fighting earlier," Harry finally spoke up and joined the conversation.

"They are," grimaced Brock. "Jessie and James by far aren't the most dangerous members of Team Rocket. Most of them are like Butch and Cassidy; dangerous and successful."

"Where do you think they went?" Ron asked.

"Probably to Saffron City," Misty said while she pulled a snack out of her bag.

"Probably," Brock agreed, taking a square of chocolate that Misty handed him. "That's where their base is rumored to be."

"Well who is going to stop them?" asks Harry earnestly.

"I'm training to become the most powerful Pokémon master ever! Then I'll go after Team Rocket." Ash becomes his same old self as he restates his goals for his life.

"But how long will that take," Hermione asks. "If Team Rocket is pulling stunts like the one they did today all over the world then we may not have much time to wait."

There is a silence before Ron speaks, "Why don't we help to defeat them."

Harry and Hermione stare at Ron as if he'd spoken another language.

"We couldn't do that Ronald," scolds Hermione. "we have, other things to attend to." Harry agrees with a simple "Yeah."

Hermione and Harry know they still have to find all the horcruxes and then defeat Voldemort. They don't have time to get involved in Muggle problems.

"But with all six of us we could take down Team Rocket, no problem!" The look of excitement and hope in Ash's face was difficult to ignore.

Harry and Hermione lean in closer to Ron so he could whisper is reasoning behind volunteering.

"Okay, look," Ron starts. "Saffron City is on the other side of the country. We can look for the horcurxes while we are travelling. And it's not like we have any idea where to even start looking for them, so why not take out Team Rocket while we're at it. I mean we're wizards. It shouldn't be that hard to take about some Muggle criminals."

Unfortunately, Ron's logic made sense. Harry looked to Hermione for the final answer. She just looked back and forth between Ron and Harry before letting out a long sigh. That weakening of resolve was all Ron needed. He looked up and Ash, Misty and Brock and said "We're in!"


End file.
